Coil car madness

[sirenwerks]

I was rummaging through the industrial Eden Park area of Wilmington DE using MS Live Search Maps. I came across this image of coil cars spotted on two (NS?) stub end tracks - http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qmk8gj8q59fq&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=17961452&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&cid=8C48FB5640EA1785!446&encType=1 - and it struck me as an odd way to unload coils.

The forklift in that image seems to have removed a number of coil covers (you can see it doing so if you rotate the image 90 degrees to the left) and blocked the road to its right and left with them, effectively cordoning off a work area on the street for itself. There seem to be two coils down on the ground in front of the car on the very right (next to the centerbeam flat) which I assume are coming or going to a nearby building.

For those who know (or care to guess) is this a normal way of unloading coil cars? I've only seen coil cars parked in places that have dedicated cranes to remove covers and coils, never this team track approach. And, if it is, is it just me or is that forklift driver kinda rude for taking up the whole freakin' road?

[Zox]

...is it just me or is that forklift driver kinda rude for taking up the whole freakin' road?

Well, it would appear that he does own the road. That is, he's on private property, not a public street. And he's not even really blocking traffic, since the whole area's a parking lot. There aren't even any curbs to dodge.

Cordoning off the area in that way seems like a rather clever safety measure to me, actually.

[Chris333]

This is how they move coils down the street from me.


This one has a post sticking out between the front wheels to hook into the coil.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qw2z5d87zc8y&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=20000489&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
on the road next to the switcher.

I have no idea how they are loaded on to cars, but guess it is overhead crane.

This thing moves steel slabs around.

The slabs go between the back wheels.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qw3tcy87z4xx&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=20000301&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Slab yard:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qw2gv187z9rq&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=20000750&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

[wm3798]

It's hard to say, but this might be the loading rig for coil at Sparrows Point.  There's a storage yard to the right with lots of empty cars, and a few with the lids on.

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qj4bxp8mtwm5&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7171977&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Lee

[sirenwerks]

There's another one @ Sparrow's Point too, a much newer facility though spitting distance from 695 - http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qj54t38msn7p&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7170378&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

But I never see any coil cars around it. Then again, I drive by it once every 2 months.

[RockGp40]

There's another one @ Sparrow's Point too, a much newer facility though spitting distance from 695 - http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qj54t38msn7p&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7170378&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

But I never see any coil cars around it. Then again, I drive by it once every 2 months.

When I worked for the medical clinic at Bethlehem Steel, I got to travel wround the whole plant. This particular facility in Sirenwerks message, which if memory serves is the cold strip mill, did not have rail access at that time and I don't believe they do now. There were two overhead cranes that would lift the coils and load them on to eight axle trucks over to another facility closer to where Lee's link takes you. The outbound coils were loaded inside the other mills to protect them from the elements and prevent premature rusting.

Now when I was working there (in 1999-2000), Bethlehem Steel was resurfacing the "L" Blast Furnace, so they were cranking out slabs (to later become coils) in anticipation of shutting the L down. Those slabs were left outside until called for. When they were called for, they were coated with whatever acids to seal them and remove corrosion and then shipped out via rail or truck. 

Nothing like seeing the slab haulers moving around. They always had right of way, and you better give it to them!!! They were always hauling a**. The slag bowl carriers were neat to see in operation too.

Ahh, fun times. I got prints of some of the equipment over there. I wish I took some of the torpedo cars getting loaded with molten steel.

[sirenwerks]

...and I don't believe they do now.

In the link I posted there's a single track  under the cranes, just inside the cranes' single ground-level track on the outside. In fact, in this view - http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qj54q88mskb3&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7170352&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 - you can clearly see coil cars on the track, but those aren't the same type of coil cars I originally referred to.

[RockGp40]

I stand corrected!  That building is less then 10 years old, so the track must be +/- 8 years old. I wonder is Mittal or Severstal added it, because I know Beth Steel didn't. The rod and pipe mills weren't far from this building's location, and they were demolished during my tenure there. The track was left in place though, so I wonder if they rehabbed it and extended it.